"I was so raw and so sad, and at the same time I could feel myself moving back into myself. I knew -- I knew! -- that hard and painful as this was, that I wasn't scared of being alone," Fonda said. "I wasn't scared for the first time in my life to not be with a man, and that whatever lay in front of me, I would be able to do it as a whole person. It was a seminal moment for me."

Fonda and Turner remain close friends, and the actress credits the experience with learning her true self.

"Everything came late to me -- my voice, my becoming whole, my learning intimacy. All those things happened after I turned 60," Fonda explained. "And I think it's a very hopeful lesson. It is never too late."